From WordMan’s post in this thread, what do you miss in edited versions of songs that they play on the radio?
Mine is the first 1/2 of Carlos’ solo in Smooth. They usually cut straight to the high A and piss me right off.
The long intro to “Crazy On You.”
I hate it when they cut out the bridge in a lot of songs. Such songs whose bridges are abridged (heh!) or cut out entirely include:
[ul]
[li]Light My Fire- The Doors[/li][li]Roundabout- Yes[/li][li]Blinded by the Light- Mannfred Mann’s Earth Band[/li][li]Love Is Like Oxygen- Sweet[/li][/ul]
This is one reason I seldom listen to the radio anymore.
Oh - can I play?
- I already mentioned T Rex in the previous thread
- I have heard versions of **The Who’s Won’t Get Fooled Again ** that either take out the full synthesizer break, or just cut to Daltrey’s howl. Are you kidding me?! If you even think about taking out Moonie’s drum fills - pistols at dawn, sir!
- I prefer my **Long Time ** to start with a little Foreplay (that’s Boston, fyi…)
I don’t want to start a mirror thread on this, but I find that the arrangement for the edited Kansas’ *Carry On My Wayward Son * was tighter and better than the full length. And what was Johnny Cougar thinking with that long ass, fairly uninteresting intro to I Need A Lover?
Like some folks need killin’, some songs need editin’.
But in the 70’s I was perpetually frustrated at how they cut songs. I remember they absolutely emasculated Detroit Rock City on the 45, and Starz’ Sing It Shout It 45 had the most horrible Frankenedit in the middle I’ve ever heard on a professional release.
I also want to go strangle the pissant who remixed *The Boys Are Back In Town *. The version I hear on classic rock stations these days is not the version on Jailbreak; they tried to tart up the guitars up or something. Let me tell you something, you little mealy-mouthed remixer: Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson’s guitars were perfect, and John Alcock knew what he was doing in the first place, so eff you.
Empty Spaces by Pink Floyd. They play the first part of the song, chop out the best bit, and go straight into Young Lust. Pisses me of every damn time.
The entire last verse of “Who Are You?” Many stations play the single edit that leaves that verse off.
There is also an edited version of “Money For Nothing” that omits the verse that mentions “the little faggot with the earring and the makeup.” Sure it’s not PC, but Mark Knopfler wrote the song from the point of view of an average guy putting in a hard day’s work, then going home to relax in front of the TV with his beer and fantasizing about what he perceives as the easy lifestyles of the rich and famous.
In all fairness, the short version, the one with no mention of “But Mama, that’s where the fun is”, was the original; the long version was created after the fact by recording an interlude + an extra verse and then splicing the whole mess together in the mixing room.
[QUOTE=dwc1970]
[li]Light My Fire- The Doors[/li][/QUOTE]
In this case, they improved the song immensely. The organ solo is mediocre and is best left out.
I’ll go the other way: the single version of the Kink’s (I Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman is longer and better than the album version.
“Champange Supernova” by Oasis is almost never played in its seven minute version on commercial radio. They either play just the first four minutes or take the first three minutes and tack on the final minute. Either way you totally miss the long buildup and just-as-long fade that makes the song such an epic piece.
“Thick as a Brick” by Jethro Tull–I know, there’s no chance in hell a station will play the whole thing. But the most popular edit (first 3 minutes) makes the song just seem like a typical acoustic number. A much better edit takes five minutes from the start and one minute from the end, which allows you to hear several sections and shows you how varied the piece is.
“Semi-Charmed Life” springs to mind immediately. It was always thrilling, as the song progressed on the radio, wondering whether the “Doing crystal meth will lift you up until you break” line would have “crystal meth” removed or obscured.
(Incidentally, it wasn’t until I acquired my own copy that I realized there was that “One / And you hold me” verse. But since I can’t say this part is CRUCIAL, it’s not really what the OP was asking about.)
Sugarloaf’s Green Eyed Lady has one hell of a Hammond B-3 solo that is unmercifully sliced, diced, pureed and julienned on the single version.
Not to mention the chop job the editors did on Golden Earring’s Radar Love.
I heard that for the first time the other day and couldn’t believe it!
On Meatloaf’s Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad, they sometimes cut the verse that begins, “You’ll never find gold on a sandy beach/You’ll never drill for oil on a city street”.
Often the spacey intro to Fly Like an Eagle gets left out.
You’ve heard *Empty Spaces *on the radio? I’ve got to tune in to your station! 
But I’m wondering if they’re just playing the album version, which is shorter than the much better movie version? I suspect this is the case.
The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks has a third verse that you never hear on the radio. It’s … Cathartic… To say the least, but I can completely understand why they excise it. Sadly, it really ‘makes’ the song for me.
I feel the same way about Mike Oldfield’s "Tubular Bells."If anything gets played on the radio anymore, it’s likely the 4 minute edits which features the bits that were used in “The Exorcist.” It’s a much more varied, muti-faceted and dare I say, eccentric piece than the edit would make it seem.
They cut out a large slice of Don McLean’s American Pie.
Here are some more songs the radio stations are notorious for editing out the bridges:
[ul]
[li]Radar Love- Golden Earring (already mentioned)[/li][li]Twilight Zone- Golden Earring[/li][li]Don’t Fear the Reaper- Blue Oyster Cult[/li][li]No More Tears- ozzy Osbourne[/li][li]Tonight, Tonight, Tonight- Genesis (I know 9 minutes is too long for most radio stations to play, but still…)[/li][li]Won’t Get Fooled Again- The Who[/li][/ul]
On the other hand, some songs with a lot of repetitive and momotonous phrases could stand a little trimming down:
[ul]
[li]Freebird- Lynard Skynard[/li][li]Paradise City- Guns and Roses[/li][li]Alive- Pearl Jam[/li][li]Layla- Derek and the Dominoes (they could lop off the piano part that follows and I wouldn’t miss it).[/li][li]Slow Ride- Foghat[/li][/ul]
You can’t cut Slowride! It’s a build-up to an earth-shattering - uhh - climax. 